13 years for Chester man who got, shared child porn

WHITE PLAINS — A Chester man was sentenced Thursday in Federal Court to 13 years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

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By HEATHER YAKIN

recordonline.com

By HEATHER YAKIN

Posted Feb. 22, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By HEATHER YAKIN

Posted Feb. 22, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

WHITE PLAINS — A Chester man was sentenced Thursday in Federal Court to 13 years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

The federal judge also found that Michael Lacatena, 45, perjured himself during his sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors say that between June 2008 and June 2010, Lacatena downloaded at least 1,400 videos and images of child pornography using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs and saved the materials to external hard drives.

Police executed a search warrant at Lacatena's home on June 10, 2010, seizing computers, hard drives, other electronics and several handguns. Lacatena did not have a New York state handgun permit.

The investigation involved New York State Police, the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Orange County Child Protective Services, the Rockland County Computer Crimes Task Force and the FBI.

Lacatena was prosecuted in Orange County Court on felony gun charges. He was convicted at trial and sentenced to four years in state prison. Lacatena (whose name appears on some court documents as Locatena) pleaded guilty to the federal charges in 2012.

A sentencing hearing was held in U.S. District Court in White Plains, finishing over the past two days. During the hearing, a minor victim testified to having been sexually abused by Lacatena.

Lacatena also testified, prosecutors said, denying any abuse or sexual interest in children and claiming he had "inadvertently" downloaded all of the child porn.

Judge Cathy Seibel found that his testimony was "preposterous," "incredible," and amounted to perjury, prosecutors said.

"Those who receive and distribute child pornography endanger and victimize the most vulnerable in our communities," said the U.S, attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara.

Lacatena's federal prison term will run concurrently with the Orange County sentence.